I have always had a strong distaste for reality shows or anything along the lines of reality television. Yet, I spent every Monday of my summer watching the most recent season of The Bachelorette… and then subsequently spent every Tuesday reading through the hilarious memes and reaction posts based off of the last episode.
You’re probably wondering why the sudden change of heart – if you could even call it that. Let me break it down for you: one of my closest friends from high school has watched just about every single episode of all Bachelor franchise shows. For as long as I can remember, she had been trying to convince me – and my mom – to watch it, too, just so that her and her mom can talk with us about it and not just talk to us about it. Every time a new season rolled around and my friend would send me a text saying “New season tonight!!!! Now is your chance to join us!!!!” Of which I would reply, “no thank u <3”
This year, though, my mom was the one who finally caved. She watched Colton’s season of The Bachelor and actually found herself as sucked into the show and it’s drama as my friend, her mom, and just about every other veteran fan. Unfortunately, I was then called in to play the messenger between my mom and my friend, copying and pasting texts they sent me and forwarding them to each other. I didn’t know an inkling of what they were talking about or who Colton or Cassie or the two Hannahs were.
Sick of being the messenger and hearing all of these stories from an outside perspective, I agreed to watch the next show in the Bachelor franchise: The Bachelorette, Hannah B.’s season to be exact. All I wanted was to have a bit more knowledge of what my friends and family were talking about around me – and through me. Little did I know that I would be clamoring for the second episode of the show as soon as the premiere came to an end.
There are a lot of misconceptions about these shows, I have to say. There is a lot of truth to these misconceptions, though. As a reformed Bachelor franchise and Nation hater, I am able to tell you that the show does, in fact, have a lot more substance to it than it leads on. Sure, a bunch of females are pawning for one males attention (or vice versa). And, yes, there is a lot of backbiting, questionable, blown-out-of-proportion drama. Not to mention that all of this happens on TV, in front of camera crews, and within a secluded little bubble of Hollywood level television magic.
What I realized, though, is it’s just like any other truly fictional show that has a plot or subplot centered around romance. One person tries to win another other. Someone else is exposed as a liar. People hide their feelings until the timing is right.
At first, I thought I would be ashamed to feel as strong for Pilot Pete and Hannah B.’s relationship on The Bachelorette as I did for Jackie and Hyde’s on That ‘70s Show, but I realized that, misconceptions and opinions and all, it’s all the same thing when it comes down to it – even if there is a bigger stigma around one than the other.
If you take away the ‘this is real life and these are real people’ aspect of the Bachelor shows – which isn’t that hard to do because so much of what happens is the furthest thing from what goes on in the normal world – you’re left with a cast of (mostly) ridiculously good looking people who get into all kinds of relationships and run into all kinds of relationship based speed bumps.
How is that any different than the Finn-Rachel-Jesse-Puck storyline on Glee? What about Stephan, Damon, and Elena’s love triangle on The Vampire Diaries? Even Joey finding out that Chandler kissed his girlfriend, Kathy, on Friends? It’s all television, it’s all cut together story lines, and it’s all over the top moments and larger than life reactions. You can’t fault The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, or Bachelor in Paradise for turning those pseudo-realistic, meant to draw a reaction style plots into an entire franchise.
No matter what, you’re just watching a cast bring something to life on a screen, whether it is a scripted, purely fictional program or a conceptual reality contest. At the end of the day, you’re going to like some characters and root for them and you’re going to hate others and pray for their demise. That is no different than a television sitcom or drama. It’s simply marketed differently.
I’m super excited to watch this season of the Bachelor which will be staring Peter from Hannah B’s season which will be airing January 2020!
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